“Man, this is some bullshit. I can’t believe they gave
that promotion to somebody else. As hard as I work, as much overtime as I’ve
put in, all my accomplishments…I was the perfect candidate,” yells the man on
the train while speaking on his cell phone. “Just goes to show you this company
doesn’t believe in rewarding people for all their hard work. Guess it’s time to
definitely start looking for a new job. I’ll be home soon. Bye.” The man
abruptly tossed his cell phone into his inside jacket pocket. Two stops later,
he exited while pulling out the keys to his Cadillac CTS.
I’ll
never know who got the promotion over him or whether or not he was truly the
deserving candidate. However, I did have to wonder a few things. Assuming he
worked as hard at his job as he claimed, how hard did he work for himself? Also,
what world was he living in where the hardest worker always gets the greatest
reward? I’ll deal with the first question off top. Too often, we hear others
speak about how hard they go for their job, how much overtime they put in, how
many accomplishments they achieved…blah blah freakin’ blah. How often do we
hear these same people speak about how hard they worked for…themselves? The likely answer is not
much if we’ve ever heard it at all.
With this
in mind, the next question becomes why? Why is it that so many people are
comfortable working extremely hard for someone else without the possibility of
a significantly increased monetary or other reward? What is it about working
for another company that makes us feel so great? Why do we not put those same
efforts toward a personal goal or passion we have and turn that into
significant financial gains? There are a million answers to those questions,
but here’s the simple one. We were not trained to value ourselves more than a
company that pays us.
By “trained”
I mean “educated.” From the time we enter elementary school, we are taught that
education is the key to success (i.e. making a shit load of money and spending
way too much of it on material items, but that’s another discussion). Not only
are we taught that education is the key to “success” but we are also taught
that not getting this brilliant education will be a one way ticket to poverty
and being completely locked out of the glamorous American Dream. So, with this
form of brainwashing starting at such a young age, we grow into Adults who have
been brainwashed by school (elementary, junior high, high school, and college)
to do two things: follow orders and market and package ourselves to be the
ideal candidate for someone else’s job. Emphasis on someone else’s job because
you can never be fired from something that actually belongs to you.
It is
because of these teachings and this mindset that that man on the train worked
so damn hard for his job and not himself. He is like most of us and not
interested in finding himself but looking to take orders from the next highest
bidder who is willing to give him what he thinks he deserves. Now for the
second question about “rewards.” We have to remember that vicious C word…C-A-P-I-T-A-L-I-S-M.
We must also remember that “jobs” are subsidiaries of C-A-P-I-T-A-L-I-S-M. In
that sense, it’s not that your job can’t afford to pay or reward you more. It’s
that they don’t want to because paying you more or what you actually deserve
would throw C-A-P-I-T-A-L-I-S-M out of whack and put more balance into our
system. The top of the hill folk would become the common folk if pay was
increased.
So,
with this in mind, we all have to ask ourselves what am I passionate about? What
stirs my soul? What would I love to get up every morning and do? How much
effort do I wanna give to a “job” that would have ZERO problem cutting me loose
the second they no longer need me? Especially seeing as how I was never hired
for my benefit in the first place. I was hired because they needed me to fill
that slot. Therefore, what’s going to happen the second they don’t need me?
Exactly. Ultimately, the choice is yours. Grind for a standard 9 to 5 that gets
way more benefits out of your effort than you do or find something you truly
love and grind for that and watch the magic unravel.
